


Deepest Red to Brightest Green

by wordsmisleadinghere



Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2018 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Colors, Ficlet, Happy Steve Bingo, M/M, Not as fluffy as it maybe should be, Steve's art woes got in the way, other characters mentioned in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 10:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15970880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsmisleadinghere/pseuds/wordsmisleadinghere
Summary: Before the serum Steve didn’t like to work with colors in his art.





	Deepest Red to Brightest Green

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Happy Steve Bingo prompt “Colors.”
> 
> As far as I could recall and find, the films don't specify the type of colorblindness Steve experienced pre-serum, so I wrote this based on the idea that he had deuteranopia, a form of red-green blindness where one sees “reds as brownish-yellow and greens as beige.” [Source.](https://nei.nih.gov/health/color_blindness/facts_about)

Before the serum Steve didn’t like to work with colors in his art. When so much around him was a hodgepodge of beiges and brownish-yellows, it seemed easier to forgo them altogether.

After the ice, he became obsessed with red. His once monochrome sketches now accented with bold pops in the perfect shades of Peggy’s lips, the highlights of Sam’s uniform, or Nat’s hair. Sometimes he’d skip graphite altogether in favor of pure red, as was the case with the wisps of scarlet energy that made up his portrait of Wanda and the billowing cape that dominated his rendition of Thor.

However, even after the serum green still proved elusive, at least creatively. It wasn’t until he started to draw Scott that he felt compelled to try, because no matter how well Steve matched the hue of his suit it just didn’t… _feel_ right.

Red was power, fire, intensity. No, Scott wasn’t that.

He was safe, grounded, and bright like the green of his eyes.

Only trying to recreate it seemed impossible. Steve always felt just short of the mark. Not even Scott’s effusive praise could convince him otherwise.

Until he realized that maybe it wasn’t their color he tried so hard to capture, but everything they held whenever they gazed back at him. And even if he couldn’t fully commit it to paper that was a small price to pay for the joy of making it happen for real.


End file.
